RWK1952

From which restaurant were these picture taken/

I have used that search function, but was unable to find anything, so likely no one-way cruises exist. But I had seen elsewhere that Apex occasionally runs one-way. Which is why I asked hoping that someone might surprise me. :-)

Seriously? The NCL Breakaway sails on the Mississippi River? I would almost think that huge ship is too big, at least for some stretches along the Mississippi.

One way cruises seem to be a bit rare. We are looking for options for a one-way cruise from the U.K. (Southampton, likely) ending in Barcelona. We intend to spend some time in Andalusia after the end of our cruise. My wife and I took a nice, one-way, southbound cruise from Seward AK to Vancouver in Sept 2023. So I know that Celebrity at least does a few one-way cruises. I thought I saw that the Celebrity Apex sometimes cruised one-way around the Iberian peninsula as well. So far, the only ones I have been able to find are on Norwegian and Oceania departing in 2025. However, even at one-way, the Oceania is almost twice as expensive as Norwegian for a similar class cabin, and similar extras.. Do you know if Celebrity does that one-way route, or perhaps any other options I might check? Thanks.

I believe one of your posts indicated that you were able to bypass lines when leaving the ship on a shore excursion. We will be on the NCL Breakaway, which is huge, and lines to get off are a concern. Did you purchase some sort of Priority Pass which was good not just for initial boarding but for each shore excursion as well? Do you feel the Priority Pass was worth the extra cost? Thanks.

Thank you for your helpful responses. I am fairly new to Cruise Critic. I would like to check out that person's Live blog on the NCL Bliss. I see where to access Live Cruise Reports, but I don't see how to search for a specific one. Is there a way to do that, or do I just have to scroll thru all of the current Live Reports until I find this one? Thanks.

Do you have experience specifically with NCL, or with the NCL Breakaway in Southampton, or around the Iberian peninsula, on the worth of the Priority Pass? On a huge ship like the Breakaway, if the Priority Pass also gave you priority disembarkation for shore excursions as well, I could see that being a real benefit.

Sorry for any duplication. Just learning how to directly reply to a comment on my OP. Would the Iberian cruise in March be as susceptible to a spring break crowd?

Sorry for any duplication. Just learning how to directly reply to a comment on my OP. Would the Iberian cruise in March be as susceptible to a spring break crowd?

RocketMan275 and UKstages I appreciate your comments. From both of your posts, I believe I can draw the implication that the overcrowding, particularly with younger passengers, may not be as much of an issue for a late March Iberian peninsula cruise. I was wondering about that myself. Would spring breakers want to take a 1-way cruise to Barcelona in March/April?

Wow. I started scrolling through the very recent, 2024 Cruise Critic reviews for the NCL Breakaway on which we currently have paid the small, refundable deposit on a cruise around the Iberian peninsula in March 2025. I had to double check to make sure that I had not selected just the 1 star (out of 5) reviews. We wanted a 1-way cruise ending in Barcelona and there do not appear to be many options. Plus, the 2 person fare, even for a Family Balcony Suite, was extremely reasonable .. extremely ... on the Breakaway compared to say, Oceania, which was one of the only other cruises I found going 1-way from the U.K. to Barcelona. I found out that the Breakaway is huge - 3900+ guests and 1600+ staff. Reviews on CC consistently say that everything is crowded, including the main breakfast/lunch/dinner buffet and the complimentary dinner areas, and the food is average and often room temperature. Trying to see shows is often impossible since you are competing with almost 4000 other people. We recently (September 2023) took a cruise on the Celebrity Millennium in Alaska. That ship has a little more than half the passenger capacity as the Breakaway, and we had no issues with the complimentary and specialty dining areas or with the food quality, and no difficulty just walking in to see the shows. Unfortunately, Celebrity only seems to do round trip cruises, at least in Europe. Also, our Alaska cruise was at the very end of the Alaska cruising season so perhaps that was a significant factor. Is the NCL Breakaway potentially as bad a choice for us to take as seniors, as the reviews here on Cruise Critic make it sound?

Distinctive Destinations. Thank you for your reply to my post. You are so right about the guide often making, or breaking, the excursion. Some of our best tours have been ones we have found in cities from those small group guides that charge nothing for city tours but rely only upon tips they get at the end. I would think that the only way you can survive to keep doing tours that way is to be sure to be pretty damn good so you generate some nice tips. I was interested to see that you included Patmos as one of your stops in Greece. We stopped there as well on our way to Mykonos. We found that to be a very quaint, quiet island and were able to get a few nice pics (attached).

Some very excellent new suggestions. In particular, the suggestions about shore stops where the port is a bit of a distance from the the main places to visit. There are a number of those on our itinerary. Le Havre, certainly, but also Cadiz (Seville) and Majorca, depending upon where the ship anchors. Just watched a You Tube video about Majorca and it looks stunning. Ordinarily, Le Havre would be ideal for a sponsored tour to see Paris, some of the wineries or to go down to the D-Day sites. However, we have spent quite a bit of time in France already so we were not overly disappointed to see that Le Havre is the only stop in France. Lots of stops in Spain, however, and we have never been to any of those locations.

Chocolate Teapot. Thanks for the reply and the suggestions. My bad on Virgo vs. Vigo. I have never been to Spain, the maps I had seen were small, and my mind just inserted the "R".

My retired wife and I will be taking the March 2025, 10 day, NCL cruise on the ship Breakaway. It will depart in Southampton and make stops in France, Portugal and Spain, ending in Barcelona. This will be our first cruise with NCL. I am very interested in hearing from people who have taken shore excursions, booked through NCL, and particularly if you have taken any of the excursions in Le Havre FR, Virgo SP, Lisbon PO, Gibraltar, Seville SP, Motril SP, Ibiza or Majorca. One thing I think we will do differently on this cruise will be to book most our shore excursions through NCL ahead of time. I made all of the shore excursion arrangements myself through local vendors while on an Alaska cruise we took on the Celebrity Millennium in Sept 2023. That did work out, for the most part, and we saved a lot of money and had more flexibility compared to booking the Celebrity excursions. However, there were a few people we saw and came to know, almost every night in that “BLU” restaurant that we really liked as a Celebrity AquaClass perk. We were able to compare our various, daily shore experiences with them and quite often, we found ourselves perhaps wishing we had opted for the Celebrity excursion instead. I am interested to read both generally how past cruisers feel about NCL shore excursions, and specifically if you happen to have taken a shore excursion in any of the locations I highlighted earlier in this post. With the exception of Le Havre, if we opt to take a day trip into Paris from there, we have never previously visited any of those other locations so we would really appreciate reading about experiences you may have had there. Thanks in advance. This forum has been really helpful with other topics.

Thanks so much to all who have responded so far. I used this forum prior to our Alaska cruise on Celebrity last September, and the member responses were very helpful. Thanks especially to HALLUX who responded to a number of my itemized questions all in her/his one reply. I have also been fortunate to hook up with a very helpful NCL agent who has responded quickly so far and who has made some excellent suggestions. As I narrow down more and more specifics, I will reply to this thread with what I have found. It does appear that since we already have Free at Sea, adding the $490/pp Free at Sea Plus package will not add much extra that we would otherwise seem to need, such as access to premium beverages. I like the extra 2 meal dining add-on that it includes, but it sounds like I will be able to do that separately for much less than $490/pp. One thing I think we will do differently on this cruise will be to book most of our shore excursions through NCL ahead of time. I did all of our shore excursions myself through local vendors while on our Alaska cruise. That did work out, for the most part, and we saved a lot of money and had more flexibility compared to booking the Celebrity excursions. However, there were a few people we saw and came to know, almost every night in that “BLU” restaurant that we really liked as a Celebrity Aqua Class perk. We were able to compare our various, daily shore experiences with them and quite often, we found ourselves perhaps wishing we had opted for the Celebrity excursion instead. I think I will try and find, or create, an NCL thread relating generally to NCL shore excursions, and maybe specifically for those in France, Portugal and Spain, and then see if I can get some recommendations from people who have actually taken those excursions.

First time cruising on NCL and really want to know what is and what is NOT included in the “Free at Sea Plus” package. My wife and I are booked for the Southampton to Barcelona, 10-day cruise departing March 28th, 2025 on the NCL Breakaway. This is just the second time that we have done a large ship cruise, and the first time on NCL. We took the Celebrity Millennium on the southbound Alaska cruise from Seward to Vancouver in September 2023. We enjoyed that cruise very much but the deal offered for this 10-day cruise on NCL looked just too good to pass up. In addition, it seems to be an almost unbelievable option to only have to pay a refundable, $250 deposit to reserve our cabin, and to not have to pay the rest until the end of November. That almost sounds too good to be true! We booked a Family Club Balcony Suite on the 12th deck, port, midship. Our Aqua Class cabin on the Celebrity millennium was sufficiently roomy for us but this cabin is even bigger than that one. Aqua Class also gave us access to unlimited basic drinks and wi-fi, and also special access to the wonderful “Blu” restaurant. I’ve been trying to determine what is included in the NCL “Free at Sea Plus”. Basically, what we are looking for are the following … - The option to have unlimited soft drinks and basic mixed drinks, and a non-premium sparkling wine. - We want to have wi-fi access in the cabin which includes the ability to send/receive emails, but we don’t need to be able to do any streaming. Our reservation includes the internet package which provides 150 minutes per guest and appears to include email capability. - It looks like we have access to a number of 24-hour, complimentary dining options without having to make reservations. - We also will want to book at least a couple of nice, specialty dinners which I assume we will need to book and pay for separately. Our reservation includes a 2-Meal Dining Package. - We would prefer to have all of our gratuities prepaid. - We will want to book at least a few shore excursions. Our reservation includes a $50/port booking credit available to use for each of us. My questions are the following … 1. Do we need anything beyond “Free at Sea Plus” to provide us … - Pre-payment for all gratuities? - The basic unlimited drink package I described above, since we do not need access to premium drinks? - Does our wi-fi access include access to emails? 2. Are there any other basic, unincluded “gotcha” fees that I am missing? 3. I assume that, as with Celebrity, it will be better to book shore excursions ahead of time, not just for discounted prices, but also to ensure availability? 4. Are there any particular additional packages that you might recommend we consider adding to our reservation? , 5. Any tips for when we board in Southampton or for when we disembark in Barcelona to try and avoid hassles, long lines, etc. if possible? 6. Are there any catches to that $250 fully non-refundable deposit we made to book this reservation? 7. We selected the discounted airfare and transfer for the flight to the U.K. but have opted to make our own arrangements coming back from Barcelona because we want to stay there for a week after the cruise ends. - Anything we need to be wary of with these discounted flight arrangements? I was told that we would have the option to pay for upgraded seat assignments at the time reservations are made, but I am a bit concerned that all premium seats will be taken by that time. We really appreciate any assistance you can provide to the two of us NCL newbies.

Celebrity Millennium Review We took the 7 day southbound cruise from Seward Alaska to Vancouver in September 2023. This was our first time cruising on a large ship and the entire experience was quite positive. We chose the Millennium based upon the recommendation of friends who had taken it on a cruise from southern California to Mexico. There are many positives about this cruise and a only a few negatives, which are really just recommendations of things to be aware of when you book a future cruise. The Boarding Process and Debarkation Process Being able to drop our luggage off right away and then only having to keep a few carry-ons was great. Our luggage was delivered directly to our stateroom and we were able to check-in, get lunch, look around the ship and still get access to our stateroom by around 2PM even though the cruise did not depart until after 7PM. Very smooth process. When we debarked in Vancouver, we had left our luggage out in the hall the night before to be taken by staff. In the morning, we were assigned a number and time to debark and our luggage was waiting for us, and very easy to locate. A tip: look on Amazon for special plastic bag tags specifically for Celebrity. You will be sent a PDF that you can print out which has as many bag tags that you want. But the plastic tags are inexpensive and much preferable to trying to staple the paper tags to your luggage. Meals and Beverages While On Board It had been recommended to us to upgrade to an Aqua Class stateroom and one of the main benefits we were told was access to the Blu restaurant. That was most definitely worth it. We had our evening meal there every night except for the last when we booked a special dinner at Le Petite Chef. More on that in a bit. There is really no comparison between Blu and the Metropolitan Restaurant which is the large area included in the meal program for general guests. Blu is much more intimate (about 25 tables or so), the waiters are very attentive, and the menu is good and varies each night. Portions are small but the quality is excellent. The Oceanview Café is the large buffet area located near the top and at the rear of the ship. It was open for lunch on the day of departure while we were waiting for our room. We went there for breakfast each morning and the quality and variety was very sufficient. The Mast Bar and Grill was a nice option open most of the time where you could get a grilled burger or hot dog and soda. There are a number of other dining options that are available for an optional fee. The one we dined at on our last evening was Le Petit Chef. It was in an area called QSine. Once again, this was recommended by our friends. It was lots of fun. There were four courses, and two options for each course. Your table was completely white and, before each course, an animated, very French, “petite chef” and various other characters were shown on our table as they talked about each course and often demonstrated how the course was being prepared and delivered to our plates. It is all very colorful and quite fun. The fee for us was $60/person but I understand it might have been less had we booked before boarding. We found out that there are five other Le Petite Chef restaurants around the world and that the one in Toronto goes for about $150/person. Beverages We had the all-inclusive drinks and tip package. It included soft drinks and all alcohol priced at $10 or less. If it was more than $10, you just paid the difference. After seeing a recommendation to try Proseco Zonin as an alternative to champagne, we did that and were quite satisfied. We never did pay any extra for drinks, even while dining at Blu and Le Petit Chef. There are many different places on board where you can get both soft drinks and alcoholic drinks so you are never far from any one. Entertainment We found the Sky Lounge, located near the top and front of the ship, a while after we boarded, but it was quite nice. There is a small stage and dance floor where they have various activities each night. We saw a magician perform his up close show there. There are also board games and daily Sodoko cards that you can use. The main theater is an excellent venue. It holds a lot of people and there is comfortable seating with tables at the higher levels where you can set your drinks. No reservations. You just show up and we never had any problem with seating. If you’re worried about that, the doors open 30 minutes early. We saw the ship naturalist present a very interesting talk about all things whale and Orca. We also saw a comedian, both for an earlier evening family oriented comedy show, and also for a later night more adult show. We also saw an excellent magician named Gabriel, from Venice Italy. Unfortunately, we were told these were his last appearances on the Millennium, but I am sure they will be able to find another magician equally as talented for future cruises. We saw two, excellent Ukrainian dancers and gymnasts perform a Cirque-du-Soleil like show. There were also other song and dance and Broadway type shows that we chose not to see. On Shore Tours We chose to book our tours with operators recommended on Trip Advisor, rather than booking the ones provided by the cruise. We batted .500 as one whale tour in Icy Strait Point was excellent, and another in Ketchikan that was a complete waste of time. We did speak with other guests who booked the cruise whale tour at Juneau and they spoke of it as highly as the one we booked at Icy Strait Point. If you do book with the cruise, do it early to get a discount. Shore excursions can usually be booked and cancelled, if necessary, a day or two before the tour departs. Spa, Pools and Whirlpool There is a large, open air pool and whirlpool area that we did not use because, well, it WAS September. There was also an enclosed Solarium, which also had a large pool and multiple whirlpools. We paid extra for a very nice Swedish massage at The Spa. The Stateroom We were in Aqua Class on the 9th deck. As I mentioned earlier, this was recommended to us in part because of the nicer room and also access to the Blu restaurant. There are also some other perks which you can find out for yourself on the internet. There are many You Tube videos that explain the benefits and show you what the stateroom looks like. Make certain that you are not just viewing Celebrity, but specifically the Millennium, because the rooms do differ depending upon which Celebrity ship you are on. Blu was absolutely a nice perk exclusive to Aqua Class. The room was nice but I’m not sure it is really any bigger, or much bigger, than other lower class staterooms. We had a separate balcony with a sliding door. We really did not end up using it much at all. Check it out on You Tube and make the decision for yourself to determine whether or not you think the extra cost is worth it. A Mild Disappointment One of the few disappointments I initially had was that since we were on the 9th deck, we had a roof extended out beyond our balcony overhead. This made it only possible for us to see straight out. There was no opportunity to see up, either to the sky or even to see mountains when we were relatively close to the shoreline. That said, we really did not find ourselves using the balcony much at all. Also, when I made the reservation, I made sure to get a stateroom not only with a balcony, but also with an odd number. That ensured that as we were cruising south from Seward to Vancouver, we would always be on the side facing land. In retrospect, that was not really a big deal. I would not let that be a deal breaker for me if I booked a future cruise. The best viewing from our stateroom balcony would have been when we cruised the Inside Passage, just before getting to Vancouver. However, we cruised the entire length well after dark, so that was a non-factor. The Staff and Crew We found everyone to be very professional and friendly, but not invasive of our privacy. Our room attendant was very accommodating and ended up emptying garbage and making the bed three times daily, and almost never while we were there. The Ship Layout If you have not cruised before, you may be surprised at how confusing it can be to locate areas, even if you know on which deck they are located. I think it took me about three days before I was relatively certain that if I wanted to walk to the front of the ship, I had to turn left out of my room. Before cruising, you might want to familiarize yourself with the ship layout by reviewing the maps that are available on the internet, specifically You Tube. General Impression We enjoyed our cruise very much. The Millennium was likely nice to begin with and has relatively recently been renovated. Everything seemed very clean and new. The staff was great and there were multiple options for eating, drinking and entertainment every day.

We are taking the southbound Alaska, 7 day cruise from Seward to Vancouver on Celebrity Millennium. We are booked in Aqua Class. "Complimentary" access to the Spa is listed as a perk of Aqua Class. However, I assume that does not mean that Spa services are free of charge. Approximately how much would we expect to pay for a basic, full body massage? I have read that there is something called an Aqua Class Spa Credit. Is that intended to be used against services such as a massage?

We are taking a Southbound, 7-day Alaska cruise on Celebrity Millennium in September 2023. We currently have an Aqua Class stateroom booked. I just received an email from Celebrity regarding their MoveUp program. I am considering making an offer on an Aqua Class Sky Suite. I have a few questions. 1. The Aqua Class Sky Suite certainly seems to be a nice upgrade from the regular Aqua Class stateroom. Opinions? 2. I want to ensure that we are booked on the side of the ship facing the shoreline as we cruise south from Seward. That would be an odd numbered room. Can you specifically request a room on that side of the ship when you bid on MoveUp? 3. The minimum bid on an upgrade for that class of room is $500/pp. For people who have done this successfully, what would be a good, but also low minimum bid which would stand at least a chance of being accepted? 5. Does a Sky Suite have an open veranda or is there another veranda overhead? 6. Finally, what is the lowest MoveUp bid, per person, that anyone has made which has actually been accepted for a Sky Suite? Thanks.